Parents Friday night exhaustion

[luvmygymdtr]

cut her back somehow - and a full practice off would likely be more beneficial than than leaving early (from Pediatrician standpoint). From Parent standpoint, I know that DD11 did great with 20 hours a week, plus open gym often, last year but this year has declined the offer of training with the higher level girls on Wed to have an evening off....I worried this was the "beginning of the end" but really, she's just noticing what her body/brain needs...last year she might have been happier/easier to live with had I made her take more time off and not get so exhausted...don't know for sure - but unless you have the Olympics in mind, a 10 year old does not need that many hours - even for college goals!

Great perspective, thank you for that!!

 

[Flossyduck]

You might find it comes and goes and you need to adjust accordingly. Her body might be going through at lot at 10.

My dd moved to 20 hours when she was 8 and she coped with it fine for months. She finished practice at 9pm too and they rarely got out on time, but she got used to it quite quickly and was ok. Then a short while back (she's 9 now), she started looking very tired by Friday evening and I could see she was struggling to keep as focused. She's been growing and moved up a class at school.

After looking again at her diet and vitamins and other activities I had a chat with her coach and we agreed to drop to 16 hours for a while. Coach worked out which session she could miss without too much impact. The coach said it wasn't unusual for the girls to struggle while they were growing, or if they'd had a virus or any of the other things their bodies cope with and she was better off training 16 focused hours than 20, of which half were not very productive.

She's back up to 20 now and is fine, but she does get the odd week when she is tired and I will take her home an hour early or let her miss the school bus and drive her in.

She was the girl who was never late, never missed a session, never injured or ill. I used to worry about what the coaches would think and if it would impact on her. I've learned that I can't let that impact on my decisions as a mum and I focus on what she needs and as long as she's happy and healthy, working hard and progressing I don't let it bother me anymore.